A 55-year-old man was arrested for reasons not revealed and any reference to the matter was blocked on Chinese social media. Xi Jinping strongly points to cultural exchanges to ease geopolitical tensions with Washington. But there are currently fewer than 900 American students in China, compared to 290,000 Chinese in the United States.
Beijing (/Agencies) – A 55-year-old man named Cui was arrested in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin for stabbing four American computer science professors yesterday in a park who were in China for a cultural exchange between the Cornell College of Iowa and the local Beihua University. A Chinese citizen who had come to defend the four foreigners was also injured in the attack.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said today that the injured had been taken to hospital for medical treatment and that none were in critical condition. Beijing did not provide any information on the attacker’s motives, commenting only that this “isolated incident will not disrupt normal cultural and interpersonal exchanges between the two countries.” However, it was quick to block news of the attack circulating on social media from foreign sources, as the “incident” had not been reported in Chinese media. A hashtag referring to the case was also blocked. Particularly on Chinese social media, nationalist rhetoric increasingly leads to xenophobic attitudes.
The issue of cultural exchanges with the United States is a particularly sensitive issue in China. In the latest high-level contacts between both countries, Beijing has relied heavily on it as a channel to ease tensions on some trade issues and geopolitical discussions on issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea and the war in Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled a plan to invite 50,000 young Americans to China over the next five years. But this project collides with the decision of the US State Department, which raised the risk indicator for traveling to the People’s Republic of China to level 3, the second highest. Washington justified the measure because of arbitrary detentions and exit bans that could prevent Americans from leaving the country. And precisely for this reason some American universities had already given up promoting academic cooperation when the blockade imposed by the pandemic ended. According to data cited by the Reuters agency, there are currently fewer than 900 American students in China, compared to more than 290,000 Chinese students in the United States.
That is why the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry was quick to declare that “China is generally recognized as one of the safest countries in the world” and assured that Beijing “will continue to take relevant measures to effectively protect the security of all foreigners in China.
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